ABSTRACT
Landslide continuum dynamic models evolved from established lumped mass and hydrodynamic methods. Subsequent innovations have included various methods to account for the behaviour of real landslides, including the effects of 3D terrain, internal strength, mass and momentum changes due to entrainment and spatial and temporal rheology variations. Continuum dynamic modelling has emerged as a useful tool for landslide runout analysis and risk assessment. The earliest continuum dynamic models for landslides and snow avalanches were essentially dam-break or flood routing models with modified basal rheologies. In any case, landslide continuum dynamic models should never be used as ‘‘black boxes’’, and experience and judgement will always play important roles in runout prediction. Iverson challenged the use of bulk rheological relationships, especially in the dynamic modelling of debris flows, whose dynamics are strongly influenced by the interaction of relatively distinct solid and fluid components.
